BTR -80

The BTR-80 armored personnel carrier is a wheeled armored fighting vehicle with armor protection and high mobility. The armored personnel carrier is intended for use in motorized infantry units of the land forces, and is also used by the Ukrainian Marine Corps.

The main armored personnel carrier of the USSR until the early 1980s was the BTR-70. The experience of their operation soon showed that, despite considerable improvements over the earlier BTR-60, most of the main disadvantages of its predecessor were transferred to it almost unchanged. One of them was the relatively complicated and unreliable design of the power plant, which consisted of twin carburetor engines, which were also characterized by increased fuel consumption and a number of other disadvantages compared to a diesel engine. Another serious problem was the unsatisfactory landing and embarkation of troops and crew, which was not much improved compared to the BTR-60. As the Afghan war showed, the vehicle’s armor was also unsatisfactory. To all this, the BTR-70 had problems with the newly designed water cannon, which often got clogged with algae, peat liquid and similar objects while afloat.

To remedy these shortcomings, the design bureau of the Gorky Automobile Plant, led by I. Mukhin and E. Murashkin, designed the GAZ-5903 armored personnel carrier in the early 1980s. While maintaining the same layout as the BTR-70, the new vehicle differed from it in a number of ways. Instead of a pair of carburetor engines, a single diesel engine of greater power was installed; large double-door hatches were introduced in the sides of the hull for boarding and disembarking the crew. The hull itself became 115 mm taller and longer, and 100 mm wider, although the overall height of the machine increased by only 30 mm. The desire to provide the crew with the ability to fire under the protection of armor was further developed, for which the firing ports in the sides of the hull were replaced by ballistic installations deployed towards the front hemisphere. The armor of the armored personnel carrier was strengthened only slightly, but even so, the weight of the GAZ-5903 increased by 18% compared to the BTR-70, from 11.5 to 13.6 tons, although the mobility of the vehicle remained unchanged and the range only increased. After successful state tests, the GAZ-5903 was adopted by the Soviet army in 1986 under the designation BTR-80.

• BTR-80UP is a Ukrainian modernization of the BTR-80, designed for Iraq. The protection has been strengthened, a new 300 horsepower D-80 diesel engine, new tires, and new electrical and pneumatic systems have been installed, and the water jet installation has been removed. In addition, a number of special modifications have been developed based on it
  • BTR-80UP-KR - company commander’s vehicle
  • BTR-80UP-KB - battalion commander’s vehicle
  • BTR-80UP-S - command and staff vehicle
  • BTR-80UP-M - medical vehicle
  • BTR-80UP-R - reconnaissance vehicle
  • BTR-80UP-BREM - armored repair and evacuation vehicle
  • BTR-80UP-T - transport vehicle
  • BTR-80-KBA-2 - Ukrainian modernization of the BTR-80, with a 30mm IDB autocannon instead of a 14.5mm machine gun.
• ASGLA (“ASRAD-IGLA”) is a short-range surface-to-air missile system developed by the European company MBDA with the participation of the Ukrainian company “Arsenal”. It is a variant of the German ASRAD surface-to-air missile system (which uses the “Igla” missile) based on the BTR-80, which was previously in service with the NDR army.
• BTR-80 “Joker” is a modernized armored personnel carrier by the National Guard of Ukraine in 2014, with anti-cumulative screens and four SPG-9M anti-tank grenade launchers installed.